The instant invention relates to a latching mechanism for releasably joining and locking together two separate modules located on a flat surface, and more particularly to such a latching mechanism which is manually operable in modular office equipment.
It is the current trend to offer office equipment in modular form so that users thereof can put together the particular combination of features that they desire. It therefore becomes important that the various modules have the capability of rigidly locking to each other and being easily releasable.
The prior art is replete with various latching mechanisms which releasably join and lock together two separate modules which are located on a flat surface. However, virtually all of these prior art latching mechanisms involve more than one motion in order to join or separate the two modules, or if only one motion is required, the lock obtained thereby lacks the rigidity required in certain applications.
The foregoing problems associated with locking mechanisms for modules, and particularly office machine modules, are overcome by the instant invention which provides a latching mechanism that rigidly locks the modules together in one continuous motion and similarly provides an easy release of the one module from the other in one continuous motion.